Local (offline) early-learning support groups?

[DadDude]

Does anyone know of any clubs or organizations (for parents, or that have many parents involved) that are devoted to anything like Doman-style early learning?   I mean off-line, face-to-face organizations.

[akalori]

That would be great, but I haven't heard of any myself.

Lori

[KL]

Maybe we could form some!

We'd certainly consider sponsoring such clubs too!

[akalori]

KL,

I love this idea.  I already talk about early learning and Brillkids wherever I go.  I discovered an "early learning" mom (using Doman, YBCR, Baby Sign) at the playgound and have exchange phone numbers for support, but forming a whole group would be better.  I've told other moms and the instructors at "My Gym" about Little Reader.  I always probe other parents just to see if they are involved in any early learning stuff.  Informally I'm always trying to assemble my own supportive "early learning" community, so I would be willing to form a group.

Lori

[DadDude]

One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of us online may not want to "come out" publicly, and may not want our contact info public.  A useful service someone could provide would be to collect names & addresses and either coordinate or play some sort of matchmaker role...  Of course, it wouldn't be feasible at all if there weren't enough people interested.

[akalori]

I was actually thinking that I would just send out flyers to the local schools and playgroups in search of other parents interested in joining an early learning parents' group.  I thought I might find some people already doing this stuff and others curious about how to get started.  I could then refer anyone interested to this forum.  Hopefully over time, it would become a functional support group linked up to this virtual community.  But I've never started a support group, so perhaps this plan is too idealistic.  Of course if there are other parents from this forum in central NJ interested in a support group, then please PM me.  It takes a village to raise a child.

Lori

[DadDude]

Lori, I hope you will share your experiences if you do as you say.  Your plan makes sense to me.

[KL]

If you can get 5 or more together, we would definitely consider sponsoring some costs for a get-together, and other possible incentives.

The same would apply to anyone else anywhere else!

Will give it a bit more thought and maybe try to formalize something for everyone sometime soon. In the meantime, if anyone has any other ideas or comments, do let us know!

[Gage]

This is a Great Idea!! I would be interested as well let me know if there are any parents that wanted to do this up around my way. I live in Barrie (Canada).

Thanks

[momtomany]

Barrie?!  Hi neighbour!
What about Montessori?  At the library (the Barrie Public Library) I have signed out some books about Montessori, and I've begun reading them a bit.  They don't seem to focus much on very early literacy.... they start with a phonics approach, but from what I've heard, they are very successful at getting those little angels reading fairly quickly at a relatively young age.  I think they focus quite a bit on teaching the kids life skills, with the theory that learning to pour, sweep, use those little sewing cards, or get yourself dressed all helps develop the hand/eye coordination that is preparation for learning to write.  Also I read lots of insight about how to interact with little children in a way that encourages development of concentration, compassion, confidence, independence, self-discipline, self-motivation.... encourages them to be a well-rounded child.  They use lots of games and play in their teaching, so even though I have no interest (or money!) for sending my little guys off to school (we homeschool), I am interested in getting more fun ideas to make the learning fun and natural.  Well, that's not Exactly what you were looking for I think, but it came to my mind.

[DadDude]

Hi KL, as you know, I trust you with personal info about myself, but I'd rather not post too much online, at least for now.  So one service you might perform, as I was hinting above, is getting people together who don't want to give up too much online privacy.

[KL]

The way I see it, it's still totally up to the individuals concerned how much personal you want to divulge.

I think what Lori had more in mind was to form a local support group by approaching people she meets in local areas.  Once there IS such a group, people here who happen to be in the same locality can contact Lori directly via PM (or through a dedicated board we set up for them here on this Forum).

Of course, it may be that there happens to be enough people on this Forum from the same locality, and we'll try to facilitate this too, but even so, how much personal info you want to give is up to you.

Either way, you'd still be in control of your own privacy, even if you do meet up with a local group in person.

PS - I'm changing the subject title of this thread for more visibility

[DadDude]

Aha, well, I don't live near Lori.  :-)  Also, if I wanted to follow her lead, I don't know a soul in the area who does this sort of thing, and I don't have any idea how to find one either...

[Kimba15]

Hi I posted on this thread earlier but post was lost.

Im very keen to start a local support group in South Australia! If you are a local please pm me.

[mother of faith]

We are in the process if creating one here in KY, the bluegrass area. We are meeting at our local library, park and at our homes, and the church. Check the website below for more info. We are planning on introducing Brillkids at our first meeting, and about our Home Education Resource Library, Brillkids is part of our resources that we have listed. We are calling it a home education co-op but it is open to all not just home educators. We already have workshops lined up and several people interested. We also have free adult workshops going on as well at our local library, the first one is lapbooking. We are trying to give back to the community and to help parents and educators with resources for early-learnering.  We have also contacted a curricula supplier for obtaining the starter packs at a discounted price for everyone to enjoy, not just home educators. We are also going to be giving demos of the software that I have for others to view, and get aquainted with before they buy the software. So if anyone is in KY check out the website below for more info. Our first early learning project for the kids is Sid the Science Kid, and for adults Lapbooking in Education-a hands on approach to teaching, and also HERL's first community meeting.


Also has anyone thought about doing a podcast, where you can allow others to join in through-out the world? I don't know how much it costs to podcast, we used post casts at schools when we would recieve our training, but it was through the university that I worked for.
I loved it, you actually see a power point or video online and talk on the telephone to each other. I'm not for sure how it all works but I do know it worked well for me.

Good luck to those below in Canada, and Asutralia.

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